Jess paced back and forth like a caged cougar on steroids. Every time he started to go after Abigail, Ren grabbed his arm and stopped him.
The bastard was about to get a boot kicked so far up his ass, he'd be burping shoe leather for the rest of his immortal life.
Jess started for the cave again.
Ren cut him off. "You can't."
"Bull. Shit. What I can't do is leave her. Don't you understand?"
Ren laughed bitterly. "Yeah, I understand better than you can ever imagine. I know exactly what it's like to want something so bad, you can taste it and to have to watch as it voluntarily goes to someone else and then wish them both the best and try to mean it. I know the bitter taste of gall as they sit down at your table and you have to smile while inside you die every time they touch or exchange love-saturated glances. Don't talk to me about torment, Jess. I wrote the fucking book on it."
Now, that was something Ren had never shared with him before. He had no idea his friend had been through an experience like that. Ren never talked about his past. Hell, Jess didn't even know why Ren was a Dark-Hunter.
Because of his own past, he'd never wanted to pry into someone else's. He figured they'd tell him what they wanted him to know, and if they didn't volunteer it, then there was probably a real good reason why.
Far be it from him to stick his nose in it.
Jess inclined his head respectfully. "I'm sorry, Ren."
Ren wore an expression that said, You have no idea.
From up the hill where the cavern was, a fierce battle cry rang out. One that sounded like Choo Co La Tah's. Jess's heart seized as a bad feeling tore through him.
Please let me be wrong.
As fast as he could, he ran up the red-soiled hill while Ren turned into a bird to fly and Sasha took his wolf form.
By the time Jess reached Choo Co La Tah's private cave, Sasha, still in wolf form, was fighting a coyote and Ren was nowhere to be seen.
Neither was Abigail.
That didn't make him happy at all. Was she dead?
He ground his teeth as agony poured through him. It was the same aching, desolate feeling he'd had the night he sold his soul to Artemis.
Abigail was gone.
Please don't be dead.
"Jess?" Choo Co La Tah's voice pulled him back to their present situation. They were in the middle of an attack, and he had to focus if they were to survive. Six bodies of coyotes lay nearby as a gruesome reminder of everything at stake. Blood was splattered on the walls and pooled on the floor, under the bodies.
Choo Co La Tah took a step toward him, then slipped and fell on the blood-drenched ground.
He didn't get back up.
Jess sprinted toward the elder, who lay in a small crevice on his side. A quick visual skim of his injuries said that it was a miracle he was still alive.
Coyote had been playing for keeps. But by the looks of it, so had Choo Co La Tah.
Jess reached down to gently roll him over so that he could see the extent of his injuries. And they were extensive. The coyotes had torn him up badly. "What happened?"
He swallowed hard. "They jumped us."
"Us?"
Choo Co La Tah cleared his throat. "They took Abigail before I could complete the ritual. We have to make the offering by dawn ... or else."
Hell would rain down on them in biblical proportions. Boy, would his snooty neighbors be pissed. They didn't like him on his best day anyway. Not that he cared.
"Do you know where they took her?"
Choo Co La Tah rubbed at his bleeding forehead while Jess tried to tend the wound. "Most likely, Coyote's den ... and you can't kill him there, Jess. We have to get him here in the Valley."
Jess glanced around to see Sasha defeating his playmate. "Where's Ren?"
"He went after Coyote and Abigail. You have to find them, Jess. Bring them back."
"Don't worry. I won't fail."
He hoped.
Abigail fought hard against the ropes that bound her hands and feet together, but there was no give with them. As Jess would say, she was bound up and dressed like a Christmas goose.
And in total darkness. If only she knew where she was.
Then she heard a deep voice from the other side of whatever she was in.
"I'll deal with him later," a man growled in a voice that was familiar, yet she couldn't identify it.
A second later, the door opened and relief poured through her at the sight of a friendly face. And here she'd thought she was in danger.
Thank God.
She smiled at him. "Ren. It's so good to see you. You won't believe what happened."
He curled his lip at her, silencing her happy greeting. "Do I look like that piece of shit?"
Okay ... Obviously he equated Ren with something bad. Which was strange, since they were virtually identical. Same black hair, dark eyes. Refined features. But now that he mentioned it, there was a difference.
Ren wasn't crazy. This man was.
Did he have multiple personality disorder?
"Are you a shape-shifter?" she tried again.
"Are you stupid? Of course I am."
He acted like she should know him and yet claimed he wasn't Ren. What was she dealing with? "Are we playing a game?"
He snatched her closer to him. "I don't play games. Ever."
Psycho it was. She would take that category and run with it.
And he got even weirder a few heartbeats later when he leaned over her and brushed his hand through her hair. He picked a handful of it up and held it to his nose so that he could sniff it. "So beautiful."
Ew ... where's my Perv Be Gone? Had she known she'd be facing him, she'd have brought extra.
He brushed his lips against her forehead. The moment he touched her, a bright image appeared in her mind.
She saw the Butterfly again, and this time she was talking to ...
Ren?
"I can't marry you, Coyote."
That name slammed into her like a truck. For a full minute, she couldn't breathe.
Coyote was an identical match for Ren? WTF? Why hadn't Ren mentioned that fact? Wouldn't something like that be a little important?
Especially since they were at war.
That thought made her blood run cold as another one followed right behind it. Was Ren a spy for Coyote?
It made total sense. No wonder Coyote kept finding them and Ren kept vanishing. He was probably heading straight to his brother every time he took flight.
She was the only one who knew. I can't die until I let the others know, too.
And still the images of the past played in her mind....
Coyote's handsome face was a mixture of equal parts horror and hurt over Butterfly breaking up with him. His breathing ragged, he shook his head in denial. "I don't understand. More than anything, I love you. Why would you want to leave me?"
Guilt hung heavy in her heart. The last thing she'd wanted to do was make him hurt. "I love someone else."
Coyote shot to his feet to confront her. "No. It's not possible."
Of course it was possible. It'd already happened. She started crying. "I'm so sorry, Cy. I never meant for this to happen. I did want to marry you, but then we met and ... and ... I haven't been the same. Please be happy for us." Her smile turned dreamy through her tears. "He understands me in a way no one ever has. I feel so alive, and all I have to do is think of him."
Coyote's face turned beet red from his fury, and for a second, she thought he might actually strike her.
Girl, get out of there. This was the part where Freddy Krueger or some other ghoul jumped out and killed the hapless victim.
Why wasn't Butterfly standing up for herself?
Coyote sneered in her face. "Never meant for this to happen?" He mocked her tone of voice. "Is that the lie you tell, you whore? Where did you meet him? Was it before or after I was tortured for over a year for protecting you?"
Guilt gnawed her into pieces. He was right. He had suffered so much for her.
But it was wrong to throw that in her face, and she knew it. "I'm sorry. I am. I didn't mean to hurt you. Please understand. I know in time you will."
She turned and walked across the floor, toward the door.
"I'll win you back, Butterfly!" he shouted after her. "Watch me. You'll see. You're mine. Now and always."
What a jerk ...
"Shhh," Coyote whispered to her as he rubbed her forehead and her dreams of the past dissipated. He traced the line of her brow. Something that made her skin crawl.
"What do you want with me?" she asked him.
"For you to fulfill your promise."
Abigail widened her eyes. "I didn't promise anything."
He gave her an evil smirk. "You always had trouble remembering your promises. Keeping your word. But not this time. You owe me. And I intend to collect it."
Yeah, she had something she was going to pay him with. But she could pretty much bet he wouldn't like it.
He definitely wouldn't enjoy it.
Pulling away from her, he cocked his head as if he heard something. He shoved her back into the darkness and withdrew, then shut the door.
That's right. Run, Coyote, run. No matter what Choo Co La Tah or Coyote thought, she wasn't Butterfly. She was Abigail Yager. And she didn't give up or give in.
Yes, she'd spent her childhood in fearful submission to her Apollite parents. But that had ended when they died. From that day forward, she'd been reborn as an assertive woman who refused to cower to anyone.
"Abby?"
She stopped her tirade as she heard the most wonderful voice in the world in her head.
"Sundown?"
"Yeah. Are you okay, baby?"
She definitely was now. "Didn't I tell you to stay out of my thoughts?"
"You can beat me later. Just do it naked."
In spite of the danger and her being tied up, she laughed at his humor.
Until she remembered Ren might be with him. "Jess, listen. We have a spy in our midst."
"What?"
"It's true. Did you know Coyote is Ren's brother?"
"No. No way. It's not possible."
"It's definitely possible and extremely creepy. Keep your eye on Ren. Whatever you do, don't turn your back on him."
"Okay. Are you somewhere safe?"
She glanced around her jet black prison. "I really can't answer that. I'm tied up in some kind of little room without any light whatsoever."
"All right. I have Sasha tracking you. I'm going to stay here in your head with you until we get there ... if that's all right with you, that is. I don't want to intrude."
Those words made her smile in spite of her danger. "Thank you, Jess."
"There's no reason to thank me, Abby. You say the word, and I will always come for you. No matter what."
That promise choked her and brought tears to her eyes. Never in her life had she had that kind of security.
Not even with Kurt or Hannah. As the oldest of the three of them, she'd allowed them to rely on her. Not the other way around.
The closest thing she'd had, had been Jonah. But even he hadn't been reliable.
I love you, Jess.
How she wished she could say that to him. But she knew she couldn't. He would always be a Dark-Hunter, and they couldn't marry.
"You still with me, Abby?"
"I'm here. How many more hours till dawn?"
"Less than two."
Ouch. They were running out of time. Choo Co La Tah needed to finish his ceremony and make an offering of her blood to Mother Earth.
"Where are you guys right now?" she asked.
"Not close enough to you for my money."
"How close would that be?"
"By your side."
"You keep talking to me like that, cowboy, and you might get lucky tonight."
"I already got lucky tonight."
"Mmm, so you're a one-shot-a-night guy, huh?"
He laughed in her head. "Ah, now, sugar, I didn't say that. The stallion never minds an all-night ride, especially when it's a wild one."
"Stallion? That's some ego you have there."
"It's not ego when it's true."
A chill went down her spine at that phrase. It was the same one Buffalo had used with Butterfly.
Could it be true?
Before she could pursue that thought, she heard a strange noise outside her door. Was Coyote coming back?
Something large struck the door hard a split second before it was wrenched open. Reacting purely on instinct, she charged the newcomer and kicked out with everything she had, hoping it would be enough to overpower him.
He fell straight to the ground, where he rolled back and forth on his shoulders in utter agony. A loud groan filled her ears. She moved to kick his groin again.
"Abigail!" he snapped, lifting his arm to prevent her infamous nut-cracker stomp. "Stop!"
Unsure whom she was dealing with, she narrowed her gaze on the man. "Are you Ren or Coyote?"
He flashed into the body of the crow. But it didn't last long. A heartbeat later, he returned to his male form.
Granted, he was still a little green around the gills ... and cupping himself. But he was Ren again. And he was whimpering.
"Oh, come on, you big baby. I didn't hit you that hard."
"I completely disagree. You kick like a damn mule, and I swear both my testicles are now lodged in my throat." He let out a long breath as he pressed his hand to his groin. Then slowly, he rose to his feet. Biting his lip, he let out several sounds of severe pain before he stood and glared angrily at her.
She backed up, unsure of his intent. Would he kill her for his brother?
"What's wrong with you?"
Abigail hesitated. "I'm fine. What's wrong with you?"
"You kicked me in the balls."
There was that. And then there was the other matter. "What are you doing here?"
"I was trying to rescue you, but I'm thinking it was bad idea. And damn, you're still bundled up. I'd hate to see what you could do with unrestricted access."
Likely story. Who would have ever questioned him coming in to save her? But she wasn't that stupid. "How did you know where I was?"
"I tracked one of the coyotes back here." He pulled a knife out of his pocket and took a step toward her.
Abigail backed up in trepidation. "I'd rather wait till Jess gets here."
He didn't listen. Instead, he sliced through her bindings and let them fall to the floor. "We don't have time to wait.... Are you sure you're okay? You're as skittish as a cat in a Doberman factory."
She hesitated. Was he leading her home?
Or somewhere far more sinister?
"Abigail?"
"I don't want to go with you."
He recoiled as if she'd slapped him. "You don't have to worry about your privacy. I won't betray you."
"That's not what I'm worried about."
"What, then?"
"Your loyalty. You want to talk to me about Coyote and explain why he looks just like you?"
Busted. It was written all over his face. She could almost see the gears grinding in his head.
"Yeah," she accused. "That's what I thought."
He shook his head. "No. It's not what you think."
"I think you've teamed up with your brother and sold all of us down Shit Creek. Paddles are extra."
"I didn't. You remember the story I told you about the warrior and the Gate?"
"Yeah?"
"I was the warrior."
Her mind reeled with that knowledge. "No."
He nodded. "My brother hates me to this day, and I don't blame him. I was out of control."
"But why?"
"I told you why. Jealousy. I'd spent my entire life living in Coyote's shadow. Others flocked to him. And for the most part, I was good with that."
Ren clenched his teeth. "Until the day he brought you home." He winced as if the pain was still too much to bear. "I'd never seen a more beautiful woman. For our people, butterflies are a symbol of hope. It's said that if you capture one in your hands and whisper your dreams to it, it will carry them up to the heavens so that the wish can be granted."
Sarcastic applause rang out from behind him.
Ren turned to find Coyote there.
"Nice, brother. You're still trying to get into her bed, eh?"
Abigail noted the pain in Ren's expression.
"I put it aside, Coyote. It's time for you to do the same."
Coyote shook his head. "No. The Butterfly belongs to me. I captured her. I tamed her. Most of all, I protected her."
"She's not a possession."
He smiled evilly. "Yes, she is. She's the most precious possession."
Abigail's head spun as the words they were saying now caused her mind to flash back to a time and place she still couldn't identify.
She saw Ren and Coyote in a meadow, where they were fighting just like now. Even the subject was the same.
Coyote sneered at Ren. "This is all your fault. You and your petty jealousy. Why couldn't you have been happy for me? Just once. Why? Had you left us alone, none of this would have ever happened. There would have been no Grizzly Spirit. No need for Guardians and he-" Coyote gestured to the floor with a knife. "-would never have come here."
Ren didn't respond. His gaze was fastened to the red on Coyote's hands. It went from there to the ground, where ...
Buffalo lay dead in a pool of blood.
Ren winced. "How could you do this? He was a Guardian." And my best friend in the world. The one and only person who'd stood by him without question.
Even when evil had claimed possession of his body and he'd served it willingly, Buffalo had stayed with him. Protecting him.
Now he lay slain by Ren's own brother.
My cruelty drove him mad....
Coyote spit on Buffalo's back. "He was a bastard, and he stole her heart from me."
Ren shook his head slowly as guilt and sorrow ripped him apart. "Hearts can never be stolen, Cy. They can only be given."
Coyote sneered at him. "You're wrong! That's your jealousy speaking."
But it wasn't. Ren had learned to banish that.
Now it was too late. He'd destroyed everything that was good in his life.
Everything.
Sick to his stomach, he went to Buffalo and knelt beside him to whisper a small prayer over his body.
A shrill scream echoed. Looking up, Ren saw Butterfly as she ran to her Buffalo. She sobbed hysterically, throwing herself down on top of him.
"Why? Why? Why would you hurt me so?"
Coyote curled his lip. "You tore my heart out."
"And you killed mine." She laid herself over the Buffalo and wept.
Ren rose to his feet and left her there to grieve while he confronted his brother.
That was his mistake. He didn't think about what would happen if Butterfly was allowed to cry her misery out to the gods and spirits. To wail and shriek for her lost Buffalo.
But it was too late now. A howling wind came screaming through the woods, dancing around their whitebuckskin-covered bodies. Those winds joined together to form two trumpeters who blew their horns to announce the most feared creature of all.
The Avenging Spirit. Something that could be summoned only by the cries of a wronged woman who wanted vengeance against the ones who'd hurt her.
Nebulous in form, he was bathed all in white. His hair, the translucent skin that covered his skeletal features. His feathers and buckskin. The only break from the color was the dark blue beadwork along his neck.
"Why was I called forth?" he demanded.
Butterfly looked up. Her beautiful face contorted by grief, she looked old and haggard now. Her hair blew around her body as her gaze pierced them with her fury.
"The Coyote killed my heart. So I want his as payment for what he took."
The Avenging Spirit bowed to her. Then he turned toward the men. His face changed from an old gaunt man with stringy hair to the face of ultimate evil. He opened his mouth and it dropped to the floor, contorting and elongating his features. Abigail shivered in terror.
Out of his mouth flew a giant eagle with a lone ghostly warrior on its back. The warrior lifted his spear.
Ren stepped back to give the warrior room.
With a discordant cry of vengeance that shook the very fabric of Mother Earth's gown, he let fly his spear at Coyote's heart.
One moment Ren was standing out of the way. In the next, he was across the room, where Coyote had been a heartbeat earlier. Before he could gather his wits and move, the spear flew through the center of his chest, piercing his heart. The force of it lifted him off his feet and pinned him to a tree.
Pain exploded through his body as he gasped for breath. The taste of blood filled his mouth. His eyesight dimmed.
He was dying.
The warrior turned his eagle around and flew back into the Avenging Spirit's mouth. As quickly as they'd come, they were gone.
His breathing labored, Ren stared at his brother. "I would have given you my life had you asked for it."
"You taught me to take what I wanted." Coyote closed the distance between them and snatched the bone necklace from Ren's throat that held his Guardian seal. He untied the pouch from Ren's belt where he kept his strongest magic. "And I want your Guardianship."
"You weren't chosen."
"And neither were you." Coyote seized the spear and drove it in even deeper. He laughed in triumph as Ren choked on his own blood.
With one last gasp, he fell silent.
The pride on Coyote's face was sickening as he turned his attention to Butterfly. "I'm a Guardian now. You can love me again."
She curled her lip in repugnance. "I could never love you after what you've done. You're a monster."
He snatched her up by her arm. "You are mine, and I will never share you. Make yourself ready for our wedding."
"No."
He slapped her across the face. "You do not argue with me, woman. You obey." He let go of her so fast that she fell back across Buffalo's body, where she wept until she had no more tears.
She was still there when the maids came and dressed her for Coyote.
At sundown, he returned for her. But before they could begin the ceremony that would join them together, the Keeper appeared in the middle of the meadow. His dark eyes radiated fury.
"I am here to claim the life of the one responsible for killing two Guardians."
Coyote gasped in terror. His mind whirled as he tried to think of some trick that could save his life. And while his brother's magic was powerful, it wasn't enough.
The Keeper crossed the room in a determined stride that promised retribution. From his belt, he drew the Dagger of Justice and without hesitating, plunged it straight into the heart of the one who'd caused such turmoil and misery.
Butterfly staggered back as blood saturated her dress and ran across her braids. Instead of showing pain, she sighed in relief. Blood ran from her lips as she turned to Coyote. "I will be with my love now. Forever in his arms." She sank to the ground, where she died with the most blissful of looks on her face.
Coyote sputtered. "I don't understand."
The Keeper shrugged. "You were the tool. Butterfly was the cause. Had she not been born, you wouldn't have acted."
"No, no, no, no. This isn't right. This wasn't how it was supposed to end." Raking his hands through his hair, he went to his one true love and cradled her in his arms one last time. She was so tiny and light. Her blood stained his wedding clothes, and he wept at the loss of her.
And it was his loss.
She wouldn't be waiting for him on the other side. Not now. The pain of that knowledge tore him apart. She would greet Buffalo.
Throwing his head back, he screamed in outrage. No, it wouldn't end like this. He'd been a good man. Decent. And one by one, all of them had killed that. His brother, Buffalo and Butterfly.
They'd ruined his life. There was no way he would let them live a happy eternity. Not after the way they'd tortured him. He reached into his pouch and summoned the strongest elements there.
"I curse you, Buffalo. You will live a thousand lives and never be happy in any of them. You will walk this earth, betrayed by all who look upon you. There will be no one place you call home. Not in any human lifetime. And you will never have my Butterfly." He blew his magic from his palm into the air so that it could be carried to the spirits who would make it so.
Then he looked down at the serene beauty of the Butterfly. So gentle. So sweet. The thought of cursing her stung him deep.
But she had scorned him.
"Because of what you did to me, you will never marry the one you love. He will always die on his way to unite with you, and you will spend your life mourning him over and over again. No peace. Not until you accept me. And if you do marry another, he will never trust you. You will never be happy in any marriage. Not so long as you have human blood within you." He reached into his pouch and drew the last of his magic, then sent it into the wind.
"Do you know what you've done?"
Coyote looked up at Choo Co La Tah's approach. "I settled the score."
Choo Co La Tah laughed. "Such magic always comes back on the one who wields it."
"How so?"
He gestured toward the sky and the trees. "You know the law. Do no harm, and yet you have done much harm here today."
"They hurt me first."
Choo Co La Tah sighed. "And you have sown the seeds of your ultimate demise. When you curse two people together, you bind them. With that combined strength, they will have the ability to break their curse and kill you."
"You don't know what you're talking about."
"Arrogance. The number one cause of death among both peasant and king. Beware its sharp blade. More times than not, it injures the one who wields it most of all."
Coyote dismissed the Guardian's words. He had no interest in them. He would never suffer.
But he would ensure that they did.
Abigail came out of her trance with a full understanding of everything around them.
Ren and Coyote were now in full combat mode, and they were going at it like nobody's business. They took turns pummeling each other through the tunnels of Coyote's den. She'd never seen a bloodier fight, which given the number of fights she'd been to over the years said a lot.
Glancing around, she looked for a weapon she might use that could help them.
Unfortunately, there wasn't one. But if arrogant belligerence could take down an opponent ...
There was no telling who would win. It would definitely be close. But she knew which side she was pulling for.
Go Red Sox.
"Abigail?"
"I'm here, Jess."
"So are we."
Now, that was the best news she'd heard in days. Leaving Ren and Coyote to their bashing, she ran for the opening. At least she hoped that was where she was headed.
She knew she was going in the right direction when an explosion echoed and blew pieces of rock everywhere.
Yeah, her boys had arrived. Leave it to them to make a grand entrance.
She ran to launch herself at Jess.
Jess smiled as he felt her soft curves pressed up against his hard body. And when she kissed him, he held on to her tight. Until he sensed something that shouldn't be here.
Pulling back, he cocked his head to listen.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"There are Daimons here."
She scowled. "No. Why would there be?"
"I don't know. But I can feel it. It's like a nest of them are nearby."
But that didn't make any sense. Why would Daimons be here with Coyote?
Unless ...
"Coyote's a trickster."
Jess cursed as he came to the same realization she did. How could they have been so ever-loving stupid?
This was a trap, and they'd just barreled right into it.